Apelles, as will be seen by reference to p. 114 of Suppl. Part III. In the night of Sept. 1st, 1814, he rescued the officers and crew of the Avon brig, Captain the Hon. James Arbuthnot, which vessel had been reduced to a sinking state by the Wasp, American sloop of war. His post commission bears date Jan. 1, 1817.
Agents.– Messrs. Stilwell.
RICHARD WALTER WALES, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1817.]
Was made lieutenant, July 13, 1790, and promoted to the command of the Ferret brig, in June, 1808. On the 26th Oct. following, he captured la Becune, French privateer schooner, of 3 guns and 38 men. On the 23rd Feb. 1814, being then in the Epervier of 18 guns, he took the Alfred, American brig privateer, mounting 14 long 6-pounders, and 2 carronades, with a complement of 110 men. His subsequent unfortunate rencontre with the United States’ sloop Peacock, of 22 guns, is thus described by Mr. James.
“On his way to Halifax with the Alfred, Captain Wales discovered that a part of his crew had conspired with the prisoners, to rise upon the British officers, and carry one vessel, if not both, into a port of the United States. As the readiest mode to frustrate the plan, he persevered against a gale of wind, and, on the 25th, arrived at Halifax. He immediately represented to the commanding officer of the port, the insufficiency of the Epervier’s crew for any service; and, in particular, expressed his doubts about their loyalty, from the plot in which they had recently been engaged. However, the affair was treated lightly; and on the 3rd March, the Epervier, without a man of her crew being changed, sailed, in Company with the Shelburne schooner, for the ‘protection’ of a small convoy bound to Bermuda and the West Indies.
“Having reached her outward destination in safety, the Epervier, on the 14th April, sailed from Port Royal, Jamaica, on her return to Halifax; and, as if the reputation of her officers, and of the flag she bore, was not enough for such a crew as her’s to be entrusted with, she afterwards took on board at Havannah, 118,000 dollars in specie. On the 25th April, she sailed from thence, in company with an hermaphrodite brig, bound to Bermuda. On the 29th, at about 7-30 a.m., a ship under Russian colours joined the Epervier; and, shortly afterwards, another was discovered, apparently in chase of them. At 9 a.m. Captain Wales hauled to the wind on the